Steel Rose
by Siobhan Daley
Summary: Squad 11 is assigned a new fourth seat. She's cocky, rude, and undeniably skilled. She has survived in the worst of places, but can she survive in the comfort of the Seireitei? And more importantly, can she truly thrive?
1. Chapter 1

The captain of squad 11 had been summoned, along with his three highest-ranking subordinates, to meet with the head captain. No reason was mentioned, only the demand that they all came.

"C'mon! What the hell?" the particularly irritable 3rd seat comlplained loudly, "Why do we have to see the Old Man? We've got other things to do!"

"Oh, shut up, Ikkaku," his fabulous friend snapped back at him, "You're making such unpleasant noises."

"Yea, so what? I'm pissed off! I was gonna fight that kid who challenged me yesterday! Now we've got this stupid meeting, and we weren't even told why!"

"We're going because we were ordered to go, so deal with it." In truth, Yumichika didn't like the vagueness of the sudden meeting, but at least _he_ was going to handle it with tact, unlike somebody he knew. _Ikkaku does have a point,_ he thought to himself, _Why did the head captain summon us? If there's something he wanted to talk to Captain Zaraki about, couldn't he just talk to him after the next captain's meeting?_ "Ikkaku has a point though, Captain. Do you have any idea what this is about?"

"I woulda told ya if I knew." Not being one for conversation, the captain said nothing else and the group carried on quietly, apart from Ikkaku's grumbling.

It didn't take too long to reach the head captain's office, much to everyone's relief. Captain Zaraki knocked and announced their presence, which was met with a prompt reply, "Enter." They all stepped inside to see Captain Yamamoto sitting calmly at his desk. In all honesty, it was a bit unsettling. "Good. You're all here."

"Are we in trouble?" Lieutenant Yachiru piped from her spot on Captain Zaraki's shoulder, "'Cause it feels like we're in trouble."

"No, Lieutenant, not today," the head captain chuckled, "I brought you here to introduce you to someone."

"Introduce-?!"

"Miss Asane, if you will."

"Hey," and unfamiliar voice suddenly spoke seemingly out of the air itself. The members of squad 11 looked around the room in confusion before the voice spoke again, "Oi, I'm up here!" They all turned around and looked up, finally spotting the owner of the mysterious voice. A young female soul reaper sat on top of a bookshelf near the door. She'd been so still and so quiet, none of them had known she was there. She was pretty, but somewhat plain, and wore the standard soul reaper uniform with the sleeves cut off at the shoulder. "I'm Yorumi Asane. Nice to meet you." Though her words were polite, her tone and body language said she was anything but.

"By my orders, Miss Asane has been assigned to your squad. She's your new fourth seat."

"Ha!" Ikkau barked rudely, "There's no way a _chick_ would last a day in squad 11, let alone be good enough to be the fourth seat!"

Yorumi's lavender eyes flashed dangerously from her perch. "Wanna bet, Baldy? I could kick your ass into last year with both hands tied behind my back."

"Why, you-" Ikkaku growled, "Where the hell did you come from, anyway?! There won't be any graduates from the academy until next month, so-"

"I'm a special graduate," she answered cockily before he could finish, "I'm one of those particularly talented people that get picked up out in the Rukongai, but I was so good already that I graduated in less than a year." The arrogant smirk playing on her lips just made Ikkaku angrier.

"That's impossible! Nobody graduates that early! They teach way too much for that to be possible!"

"I'm a fast learner."

"Silence!" the head captain demanded, having had enough of their bickering. "I have assigned Yorumi Asane as squad 11's fourth seat because she is the kind of fighter your squad looks for, and possesses remarkable skills. You will accept her, is that clear?"

They all gave a quick "Yes, sir," some a bit more disgruntled than others.

"Good. You are all dismissed."

The new fourth seat jumped down gracefully from her spot on the bookshelf and bowed to the head captain with one bare arm bent so that her hand was over her heart in a salute. "Good day, Captain Yamamoto." Captain Zaraki walked out first, followed closely by Ikkaku and Yumichika before Yorumi stepped in front of them. Ikkaku glared and growled, "Get outta our way, newbie!"

She just turned her head and said with a with a cocky grin, "Haven't you ever heard of 'ladies first,' meathead?"

"Why, you-!"

"She has a point, Ikkaku," Yumichika interrupted, though he didn't like agreeing with the new girl, "Show a little decorum, woul you?"

"Glad to see at least you've got decent manners, pretty boy."

_Was that an insult?_

* * *

The walk back to squad 11's space was less-than-comfortable for some people. Ikkaku was silent and glaring daggers at the back of Yorumi's head and Yumichika found himself strongly disliking the new fourth seat's cocky attitude more and more by the second. On the other hand, Lieutenant Kusajishi was smiling and chatting away with Yorumi, and was happy as a clam, while Captain Zaraki couldn't care much less.

"Whoa! You really graduated in only ten months?" Yachiru gaped in awe at the statement.

"That's right," Yorumi gloated, "Shortest time ever!" Yumichika rolled his eyes at her arrogant answer. He could practically her the cocky smirk she undoubtedly had on her face.

"Wow!" Yachiru cheered, "That's so cool! And you're from the Rukongai, right?" Yorumi nodded, earning another cheer from the Lieutenant. "You know, me and Kenny are from the Rukongai too! I'm from Kusajishi and Kenny's from Zaraki."

"Ah, so that's where you got your names," Yorumi realised, to which Yachiru nodded. "Those are in the north Rukongai, aren't they?"

"Yep! Can I guess where you're from?"

"Go ahead."

"Hmmm..." Yachiru squinted at Yorumi like she was trying to look at something bright. "West?"

"Nope. South."

"Rats! Hm... Cue Ball! Help me!"

Yorumi snickered at the nickname, "Cue Ball? That's great!"

"Shut it, lady!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she stopped her snickering, but was very definitely _not_ sorry.

"I bet you're from one of the inner districts, aren't you? You've got that 'better-than-you' attitude that all people from inner districts have!"

She just smiled at him. "Wrong!"

"What?"

"You guessed inner, and you guessed wrong."

"Liar!"

"Why would I lie about something like that?"

Before the two could start a fight, Yachiro piped up, "Are you from the middle districts then? Like around the sixties?"

Yorumi was right about to shake her head when Yumichika finally said something after being almost completely silent. "You're from district 80. Am I right?"

She turned around, continuing to walk backwards, and grinned at him, "Wow. Good manners, intuitive, _and_ pretty. I'm impressed." Yorumi turned back around and laughed, "If only you actually looked like a man!"

Yumichika stopped abruptly and stared at Yorumi indignantly as she kept walking. "What did you just say to me?!" Ignoring his sense of decency, he reached out and harshly yanked Yorumi back by her collar. He spun her around and glared straight into her eyes. "If you're looking to be enemies with me, you're doing a pretty good job of it! What the hell's with you anyway?"

"Take your hands off of me." The playful gleam in her eyes and sarcatic tone vanished like they'd never existed. When he didn't, she warned, "I'll give you three seconds to release me. One..." Nothing. "Two..." He still didn't let go. "Three." In the blink of an eye, Yorumi tore Yumichika's hand away, kicked his feet out from under him, and had him pinned to the ground on his stomach with his arm held painfully behind his back.

"That hurts!" he yelled in surprise and pain, "Let go of me!"

Yorumi bent down closer to him and hissed loud enough for everyone to hear, "Don't test me. If you show such hostility and disrespect to me again, I'll snap this pretty little arm of yours clean off!" To emphasize her point, she bent his arm further backwards, earning a pained cry from Yumichika below her.

"Ow! Okay, okay, I'm sorry! Now please, let go!" Yorumi obliged and stood up. For a moment, it looked like she was going to say something, but any words she had prepared died on her tongue as she truned away and began walking again. Yumichika straightened himself up and rubbed his sore shoulder while glaring at his assailant. He hissed to himself almost inaudibly, "I officially hate that little bitch."

She stopped abruptly and turned her head just enough for Yumichika to see the glare she shot him. The quiet, low threat in her voice sent chills down his spine, "I can hear you, Ayasegawa."

_There's something _very_ wrong with this woman!_

* * *

Having only a few possessions, Yorumi quickly moved into the room she'd been assigned. She expected no help and got none, though Yachiru had wanted to before Captain Zaraki went off in search of a fight with her in tow. Yumichika and Ikkaku stood further down the hall, watching her walk in and out of her room to carry in the belongings outside the door.

"I still can't believe you let her beat you like that," Ikkaku shook head head at his friend, "Seriously, she's a _chick_, and she had you on the ground before you could blink!"

Yumichika muttered "She caught me off guard, and she's stronger than she looks." In truth, he couldn't believe it either. He never would have expected a girl to be able to force him into submission like Yorumi did. Though he was bitter about the incident and didn't like her, he couldn't help but be soewhat impressed with Yorumi's skill. _I wonder if she's that good with her zanpakuto?_

"Whatever. You still got beat by a chick."

The two watched Yorumi carry in her folded-up futon bed. When she went in, they noticed an out-of-place package that had been concealed under the mattress: A long, narrow, shiny box made of black-stained wood. Even from a distance, they could see glints of silver tracing across its surface.

Ikkaku whistled, "That's a pretty fancy peice there! I thought only nobles could afford that kind of stuff."

"You're right," Yumichika agreed, "But she's from one of the poorest parts of the Rukongai. There's no way she got it there, or could ever even afford it." _So how did she get it?_

Yorumi came out and picked up the box, holding it much more carefully than any of her other belongings. She didn't seem to mind if her other possessions bumped into the doorframe or got jostled around. This box, however, was treated with a level of care that seemed almost out of character for her. She carried it carefully, as if it - or it's contents - would shatter if it recieved the tiniest bump. As she shifted the box to avoid the door, she finally noticed the pair down the hall. "Don't you have better things to do?" she snapped before disappearing into her room for the last time.

"She's gonna get killed here," Ikkaku muttered.

Yumichika agreed, "If that attitude keeps up, somebody's going to fight her, and she'll lose. She doesn't even have any spiritual pressure!" Once he said it, they realised that it was true. They couldn't feel any pressure from her, as if she wasn't there at all.

Ikkaku grinned at a sudden idea, "Hey, Yumichika, our new fourth seat hasn't proved herself to be worthy of her position yet, has she?"

"Right... Where are you going with this?"

"As high-ranking members of squad 11, shouldn't we give her a little test to see how good she really is?"

Yumichika smirked, completely understanding what his friend was suggesting. "Ikkaku, I think that is a fantastic idea."


	2. Chapter 2

Yorumi woke up at the crack of dawn after only two or three hours of sleep. The moment she woke, she sat up on her mattress and quickly got dressed. Yorumi wasn't one to waste time being idle, so once she was finished putting on her uniform and arranging her pretty black hair, she padded quietly across the tatami-covered floor to the door and left, deciding to explore and familiarize herself with her new home. She already knew the layout of the barracks she lived in, so she wasted no time wandering through it and instead chose to explore the training grounds and whatever else she might discover in her new territory.

In the end, there wasn't really anything of interest out there. In the practice grounds, the only thing she'd found, other than dirt, was a supply of wooden practice swords for sparring. Everything else she'd seen was even let interesting. "And here I thought life would be more interesting if I became a soul reaper," she said to nobody as she sat on the veranda drinking jasmine tea in front of squad 11's headquarters. The sun was rising and colouring the sky all different shades of pink, orange and purple. She sighed contentedly at the sight, "So beautiful."

The tranquility didn't last very long, unfortunately. "Well, well, look who's the early riser," sneered a voice she already knew quite well: The irritable third seat, Ikkaku Madarame.

Yumichika was with him as well, no surprise. "I would've thought you were the lazy type who wouldn't wake up until-"

"Shh!" Yorumi held up her hand to shush them, "Do you hear that beautiful sound?"

The word 'beautiful' caught Yumichika's attention immediately. "What? What sound?"

Yorumi turned to look at them briefly with a smirk. "It's the sound of neither of you talking."

Both men took offense to her indirect insult. "Why, you-!" Ikkaku began shouting indignantly before Yorumi cut him off again.

"In case you couldn't tell, Baldy, that means 'shut up.' I'm trying to enjoy the sunrise." A few other squad members had started filing into the area, some probably curious what Ikkaku was shouting about.

"That's it!" he yelled angrily, "We're not taking this from a chick! I-"

"It looks to me like you are."

"Stop interrupting me, dammit! I challenge you to a duel!"

"And fight me after him," Yumichika interjected.

"Right, then you fight Yumichika."

Yorumi took another sip of her tea and was silent for a moment, as if in thought. "Hmm... No thanks. I'll pass."

"What?!" They couldn't believe what they'd just heard. Was she honestly refusing to fight them? "This is squad 11! Nobody turns down a fight! Are you a coward or something?"

"No," she replied calmly, "I just don't want to explain why there are two corpses in the practice yard on my first day here."

"You actually think you can beat us?"

"I know I can."

"Then fight!" Ikkaku demanded.

Yorumi sighed, already knowing that she would only be able to reason with him through violence. "Alright. Fine. I'll fight you."

"Good. We'll hold the duel here at noon," Ikkaku declared. Yumichika nodded in agreement.

"Why wait?" Yorumi asked, "Let's do it now. I don't put off fights. Go get your zanpakuto. If you're not back in fifteen minutes, it'll be an automatic forfeit on your part." The sudden change in attitude was surprising, but they both ran back to their rooms to fetch their swords. Several soul reapers that had left the barracks rushed back in to notify everyone else about the impending duel. When Ikkaku and Yumichika returned, it looked like Yorumi hadn't moved an inch.

"Aren't you going get your zanpakuto?" Yumichika asked, honestly confused.

Yorumi placed her cup of tea on the veranda and stood with nothing more than a wooden practice sword in her hand. "No," she replied coolly, "This should work nicely. And like I said, I have no interest in killing anybody today."

"You really think you can beat either of us with nothing more than a stick?" Ikkaku laughed, "That's actually funny!" He walked out into the middle of the practice yard, surrounded by soul reapers that were itching to see a good fight. "C'mon, girlie! Show me how good you really are!"

Yorummi joined him in the makeshift arena, seeming completely passive towards the contest. "One thing before we start..." She beckoned, "Pretty boy, get over here. You're up too." Mutters and murmurs of surprise rippled trhough the growing crowd.

"Is that chick gonna fight them both at once?"

"Doesn't she know how powerful they are?"

"There's no way she could beat even one of them with a wooden sword!"

"Does anybody know who that chick is?"

Yumichika denied, "No way. That wouldn't be a fair fight."

"You're right, but it might even it out a little. And that wasn't a request. Move it!"

* * *

Ikkaku and Yumichika stood at the ready with their blades drawn and identical firm, stiff stances they were taught at the academy. Yorumi, on the other hand, stood relaxed and without a distinct form, having removed her waraji sandals and tabi, and resting her wooden sword on her shoulder. Despite the odds clearly favouring her opponents, she seemed carefree and confident, as if she were facing a pair of children armed with sticks.

_She's not taking this seriously at all,_ Yumichika thought as he watched her casually bounce the piece of wood on her shoulder. He narrowed his eyes, starting to get an uneasy feeling. _Is she always like this? If so, how the hell is she still alive?_

"Ready when you are." Ikkaku charged without hesitation, and only then did Yumichika put everything together.

Yorumi was from one of the most violent, dangerous districts in all of the soul society, so she had to be tough.

She got into the soul reaper academy and graduated in less than a year, so she was smart and highly skilled.

So if she had the confidence to face the two of them with only that wooden sword...

"Ikkaku, wait-!" Yumichika called out to his friend, but it was no good.

Hardly a moment after he came into range, Ikkaku was disarmed and on the ground. Almost faster than anyone could see, Yorumi had knocked Ikakku's blade aside with her bare hand, kicked his feet out from under him, and swung her sword against the back of his head. The resounding crack made everyone cringe as they watched their third seat fall to the ground unconcious.

"Your turn, Yumichika Ayasegawa." Yorumi closed the short distance between them, preparing to strike down her opponent as she had Ikkaku.

"Bloom, Fuji Kujaku!" Yumichika ordered his zanpakuto, just fast enough to block. The first blade's edge dug into the wood of Yorumi's normally-harmless weapon, but didn't cut through. For the moment, it looked like they were at a stalemate.

Only for a moment, though. Yorumi caught him off guard and drove her knee into his stomach, sending him reeling backwards and knocking the wind out of him. A swift follow-up kick caught his side and forced him the other way, flying into one of the columns supporting the veranda where they'd made the mistake of challenging Yorumi.

Dazed and bruised, Yumichika reached for his zanpakuto only to feel something rush by his face faster than he could see. The yellow feathers hat decoratied his right eye fluttered to the ground and Yorumi's wooden sword pressed against his neck. "This may not be able to cut your throat, but I could still break it." He didn't doubt that she would. Yumichika now realised that she was definitely capable of killing, and likely had no objections to it. He looked up at her while moving as little as he could. Instead of the playful, casual gleam, Yorumi's eyes were cold and calculating, with a ghost of a mocking smile on her lips. He was beginning to see why Old Yama personally assigned her to squad 11.

Yumichika winced as she bent down, expecting to be hit. Instead, she picked up his zanpakuto. Then, she started talking to it. "'Fuji Kujaku,' is it? Nice to meet- Oh? That's not your name?" Yorumi quirked an eyebrow at the blade. "Ruri Iro Kujaku? Yes, I agree, that colour suits you much better. But why does he call you 'Fuji'?" She grinned at tilted her head in a curious manner. "Oh, I see. That's very interesting. Anyway, go ahead and relax, Ruri Iro Kujaku. That's enough." Much to Yumichika's surprise, his zanpakuto responded to her and returned to its sealed state.

"How did you do that?" He asked incredulously, "What did you just do?!"

"I just had a nice little conversation with your zanpakuto, nothing to worry about," she assured him before pressing Ruri Iro Kujaku's blade against his cheek. "This, on the other hand, is. What should I cut on your pretty face? Something you'd remember... I could give you a nice scar or two on your cheek, or I could jut off the end of your nose. Maybe gouge out one of those pretty purple eyes of yours..."

"No! Please don't!" the narcissist continued begging Yorumi to not hurt him, too panicked to notice when she pulled Ruri Iro Kujaku away.

"Pretty Boy," she tried getting his attention, but he didn't seem to hear her. She quirked an eyebrow, then smacked the top of his head, which finally got him to pay attention. "I was joking," she said like it was obvious.

Without another word, she slid Ruri Iro Kujaku innto its sheath on Yumichika's hip and stood up to walk away. Right then, the sun finally broke over the horizon after having lit the sky with shades of purple, pink and orange for the duration of the fight. The first golden rays shone behing the victor, making her look like a figure straight out of a legend. And at that moment, with her shiny black hair and her hakam swaying gently with a soft wind and the sun's golden light behind her, Yumichika realised, _She's absolutely... Beautiful._


End file.
